Page 19 of Hawk
“I’ve come to take you back to your husband,” he explained with a bored expression on his face. “He’s missed you.”
“I don’t have a husband,” I tried to reason and began to slide out of the booth.
He snapped his fingers and the man in the suit suddenly appeared, pressing his meaty hand onto my shoulder, causing me to yell out in pain.
Papa appeared unfazed as he spoke. “Adrik has been looking for you and I’ve been tasked with returning you to him.”
“What about Halina? I can’t leave my daughter,” I yelled, and he shook his head.
“After I told Adrik the truth about you, he said he didn’t want someone else’s bastard child. So, she stays here.”
“NO! She’s his daughter. You can’t do this.”
My father was going to return me to the prison I’d lived in, and he was willing to lie, leaving my daughter—his granddaughter—all alone. I knew it would do no good, but I tried to play to his sense of family.
“We can’t leave her here. She’s your blood.”
He stood from the booth and adjusted the cuffs on his suit as he explained, “She may be your blood, but she’s not his. He knows you’re a whore, just like your mother. I explained it all to him and all he wants back is what’s rightfully his. You.”
I went to stand and felt the world begin to sway. “What . . . what’s happening to me?”
“We gave you a little something to make the trip more bearable. Don’t worry, Stella. Adrik promised to take care of your bastard child.”
“Please, Papa, you can’t do this.”
“I’m doing what I have to. You should have learned that lesson a long time ago, but I guess you’re stupid like your brothers.”
“I . . . I don’t understand. What about Halina?”
Papa smiled as my vision began to grow dark and the edges of reality began to fade. “His sister agreed to watch her until she’s ready to take her rightful place.”
“Sister?”
“Alyona said she’ll keep her company and teach her the ropes.” Papa chuckled as the realization of what he meant became clear. “Or should I call her Melody?”
I tried to take a step, needing to get back to Halina, when I fell forward and my world went black. For the next eight years, I’d fight to get back to her before Alyona, or Melody, could ruin her forever.
I prayed I wouldn’t be too late to save her.
Or that I’d live through whatever hell Adrik had planned for me.
